Haandbryggeriet Nissefar

Brewed by Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
Style: Old Ale
Drammen, Norway

Dark malts, sour, very low carbonation, Nissefar is probably not a beer that will make everyone’s Christmas wishlist, but I think it’s great. The beer pours an opaque coffee black with a very small mocha head that dissipates quickly. The aroma is in the fruity stout/porter malt range with some vanilla, oak and faint souring. The flavor is sweet and sour with a soft hop bite in the finish. The mouthfeel is smooth, like drinking a beer pre-carbonation. Nissefar is a different and enjoyable experience if you don’t mind some sour in your flat porter.

Bottle poured a clear dark reddish brown with a large lasting tan head. Aromas of cola, carmel and spice. Palate was light bodied and crisp. Flavors of carmel, cola, spice and light toffee with a crisp spiced finish. This one’s a bit of a disappointment.

Bottled @ Cardinal. Pours super dark brown almost black, with a small tan head. Aroma of strong roasted, even burnt malts, coffee and some sweet notes as well. Taste is full of the darker malts, anis and bitter chocolate, even som smoked notes. Nice

500 mL bottle. Pours a dark, almost black, shade of brown with silky khaki head. The aroma is rum, chocolate, oak, clove, loamy soil, a touch of ash, and a little bit of passionfruit. The flavor is rum again, but with a much roastier twist than I was expecting. There are some chocolate and oaky vanilla notes in there, too. A subtle black cherry fruitiness bounces around to keep the edge off the roastiness. It dries out a little toward the finish, with a zest and spice twang. It finishes nice and cleanly and leaves a rummy aftertaste. Pretty good stuff, I must say.

500ml bottle - the first thing I notice upon opening the cap is that there is a bunch of dark brown gunk underneath the cap, and all up the interior of the neck of the bottle - I immediately think that this must have been seriously mishandled in shipment, as if it were stored upside down long enough for the yeast sediment to collect at the neck of the bottle, and stick there - pours dark brown, fizzy, cola-like - serious oxidation hits the nose first, like smelling an old coffee can full of pennies - underneath is some sour character that doesn’t seem intentional - and underneath that is some black malt, chocolate, tobacco - prickly carbonation in the mouth - taste is initially semi-sour, like an infection has had a little bit of time to settle in, but not to entirely ruin the beer - the sourness actually works with some of the dark malt character - semi-dry, some cocoa, leather, earthiness - moderate roast and a dry, bitter finish - there are clearly things happening here that the brewer did not intend, but it’s not an entirely unpleasant drinking experience.

Looks pretty good. Deep black with a thin beige head. Aroma is good, with some spiciness, charcole, earth, chocolate, raisin, quite christmasy. The flavour is good, but nothing stunning unfortunately. It’s quite dry, almost with tannins at times. It has adefinite tart/metalic nature much like a milk stout, but definitely a lactose-like element. Then there’s lots of earth, mineral a background fruitiness. Not much in the way of spices though... It is very porter like with an odd sweet/bitter quality. The palate is a bit off, too fizzy really... Overall the beer is good but could have been great if it were not for the mediocre palate and more spiciness. It could be more oily and thick in my opinion and mmore xmassy

What the...?! Did I get a bad bottle?! I think I’ve enjoyed everything from this brewery that I’ve ever had, but this is....eeeeewwwww! Colour... (the only redeeming feature) black with no head. Nose... eeeewwwww! Sour, musty, rank, vomit-like. Palate... even more eeewwww!! Too weird, funky and musty. Some malt but mostly, eeeeewwww!

Bottle: Pours a dark mahogany color with a nice foamy tan head. The nose is roasty with some sweet raisin and fig along with a tart cherry and fruit note. Very malty with a tart balance in the nose. The flavor is chewy with some chocolate and more tart fruit notes, tons of body and raisin. Finishes clean and balanced. Quite delicious and malty, very nice balance. Much better than the american hop forward christmas seasonals.